All Philosophical
To some, cycling is an obscure activity that evokes images of brightly clad, lycra wearing pain enduring enthusiasts who take up precious room on the road and deserve to be the recipient of pent up road rage.
To others cycling is that activity that every child has to learn, as a rite of passage, that grants them their first taste of freedom and the ability to explore new places and still be back in time for dinner, avoiding that telling off from mum.
Cycling to others is a pastime that sees them unite with friends at weekends and summer evenings to go for a ride and maybe a pub at the end.
Speed and crossing the finish line first is to others the main concern.
Cycling is such a broad and diverse subject that appeals to so many different walks of life in different ways. There are so many different types and styles of riding which mainly stem from the one big division in cycling…road or off road? Even at this junction or trail fork (which ever you prefer!) there is still so much crossover. Hybrid and cyclocross bikes seem to have a foot on either side of the pavement. Fundamentally there is physically very little which differentiates a road bike from a mountain or off road bike, yet at the same time they are so different. Frame material, geometry, gear ratios, wheel size, tyre width and crank length to name a few, not taking into account the world of suspension and complex linkages found on many modern full suspension bikes.
Riding a bike is an emancipating endeavour, freedom to go where you want without having to rely on a complex array of electronics and petrochemical engineering, favouring simple mechanics and muscle power.
Put simply, bikes are more than just the sum of their parts. Unlike cars that will still work regardless of whether it has all of its doors or a roof. Start removing components from a bike and what you are left with is a pile of parts, no longer a bike. Bikes are as basic as they can be, straddling a fine line between necessity and functionality but at the same time remain marvels of engineering. CNC machining, laser cutting, double butting, anodizing, torque tensioning, rebound dampening. All of these processes are continuing to take bikes to new levels of performance that could only have been dreamt of twenty or thirty years ago, however the core of the sport remains same. That interaction between bike and rider travelling over whichever terrain it is that they choose to ride. The bike becomes less of a contraption or gadget manipulated by a series of leavers pressed and pulled, turned and rotated in a complex order seemingly following no pattern or repetition, no logic or reason dependent only on the constantly altering terrain under wheel, ultimately governed by the speed or direction the rider chooses.
A very different reality is experienced by a cyclist, someone who is at home on a bike. The bike becomes more of an extension of the rider, a manner and a means of expressing the freedom which can only be brought about by riding a bike, like the brush in the hand of the artist painting a complex picture, making it look effortless in a way that only that artist can.
The interaction of man and machine, the fusion of science and art, the Freeflow.
Whichever trail or road you choose, whichever blend of bike and rider you choose to become, however you wish to develop your Freeflow, do it with us and tell us about it.
Andy
